Club filmed male escort having sex with boy, court hears

Mark Russell

A HIV-infected male prostitute took a 15-year-old boy to an adult homosexual club in Collingwood and had sex with him knowing they were being filmed, a court heard today.

As the pair left the club, they were each allegedly handed a copy of their sex tape.

Adam Randall, 36, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court accused of sexually abusing the teenager for over three years from when the boy was 13.

Randall faced a total of 14 charges, including having unprotected sex with the boy and another man on separate occasions without telling them he had HIV, putting them at risk of catching the disease.

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In a statement tendered to the court during a committal hearing for Randall, the alleged victim told how he and Randall went to Club 80 in Collingwood one night in 2010 after visiting the Wet on Wellington gay sauna.

The teenager, now 18, said the pair went upstairs to the dungeon called Loft 6 which had a cage in the room.

He remembers being inside the cage at one stage but cannot recall the sexual encounters he had with Randall because he was taking methamphetamines.

He claimed he and Randall were later given a copy of their sex tape.

"I don't know how many sexual encounters we had (over the more than three years they were together) but there were numerous encounters," the alleged victim said.

"When I first met him I did not know much about condoms. I trusted Adam and agreed not to wear one. He was the first male I ever had sexual encounters with.

"As a result of this friendship, my life is messed up. I tried to commit suicide because I felt my life was f...ed up. I blamed him." The teenager is not believed to have contracted HIV.

Former Department of Health worker Elizabeth Hatch told the court she visited Randall in May 2006 over concerns he was working as an escort.

Ms Hatch said Randall told her: "I can live my life as I want".

She said he later claimed: "If I go out, I'll take others with me."

Magistrate Elizabeth Lambden committed Randall to stand trial on eight charges including reckless conduct endangering serious injury; making child pornography; sexually penetrating a child under 16; and sexually abusing a child for more than three years.

Randall, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, will appear in the County Court on December 3 for a directions hearing.

He later pleaded guilty to the six remaining, less serious charges including working as a sex worker while infected with HIV; operating a brothel at his home without a permit or licence for more than seven years; possessing cannabis; and unlawful assault.

Randall, who is on a disability support pension and spent 17 days in custody after his arrest in May this year, was fined $1000.

Prosecutor Julian Ayres told the court Randall had contracted HIV in July 2004 from a partner who did not know he had the disease.

Randall told police he did not see himself as a male escort but more of a sex counsellor.

Defence lawyer Peta Murphy said Randall had had a difficult life since being diagnosed at an early age with a mild or borderline intellectual disability and getting involved in drugs.

Ms Murphy said Randall only became involved in sex work when friends told him he could make money because of the way he looked.

Randall no longer wanted to work in the sex industry and hoped to be a carer looking after people who had progressed from being HIV-positive to full blown AIDS.

Police told the court at an earlier hearing that when Randall was arrested at his Reservoir home on May 23, he claimed he had a high sex drive and usually went to a sauna in Collingwood where he would have sex with up to 20 strangers a day but always wore a condom.

Randall was released on strict bail conditions including that he live with his mother and accept a Department of Health order that he not engage in any form of sex work, advise all his sex partners of his HIV status before having sex, and have safe sex.